


Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-11
Updated: 2012-11-11
Packaged: 2017-11-18 10:46:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/560170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ruby fears what will happen if she turns into a wolf again in Storybrooke, Archie vows he'll sit with her and chain her up just as she had said she'd do for Peter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed

It was crazy, Ruby thought, that being trapped in Storybrooke by Queen Regina’s curse meant that she’d actually been freed from the other curse that had blighted her life. Because as long as she was trapped in this land without magic, then she was free from the curse of becoming a wolf every full moon. And she didn’t have to spend every day living with the reminders of what she had done.

Had there been a part of Ruby that had always somehow remembered, deep down? Had the tracking skills she’d displayed during that brief time she’d worked for Emma been some kind of vestige of the curse? Every time Granny told her off about the revealing clothes she wore, had that been a part of Ruby that was still rebelling against having had to wear the red cloak every month at wolfstime? And when Granny had talked to her about the meaningless relationships she had, had that been because somewhere deep inside she still remembered Peter, that she felt that no one compared to him while at the same time feeling she didn’t deserve anyone, remembering what she had done?

“Am I the only one?” she asked Archie one day. “Does anyone else ever wish that the curse hadn’t been broken, and that they didn’t remember everything?”

Archie smiled to himself. “Well, I can’t discuss what other people tell me in their sessions,” he said, “but let’s just say that you’d be surprised. I have to admit that sometimes I’ve felt that way myself.”

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked. 

“Because every day, I now have to live with the knowledge of things that I have done, just as you have to live with your memories of the wolf. When I look at Geppetto, I remember again how his parents are dead because of me. I lived with that for many years before the curse, and now I do again. It makes no difference that the potion was never meant for them and that my parents swapped it for the elf-tonic. I still feel responsible, in the same way that you told me you feel about Peter. You didn’t know what was going to happen, you couldn’t control it.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen now, either. But I know I won’t be able to control it.”

“What do you mean?” Archie asked.

“I mean that I don’t know whether the fact that magic is back will mean that I’ll turn into a wolf once more. Once I knew, I could use my red cloak to avoid it if I wanted to. I had some control. But I don’t even know where my red cloak is now. Probably back there in our world, if it still exists at all. And now I’m scared that if I turn into a wolf again, I’ll hurt someone that I care about. Charming and Henry, what if something happens to one of them before they get Snow and Emma back? Then there’s Ella and Thomas with their new baby. And then there’s you. What if I hurt one of you? How am I supposed to keep you all safe?” Ruby asked.

“How were you going to keep everyone safe when you thought it was Peter who was the wolf?” Archie reminded her. “You chained him up. So that’s what we’ll do.”

“We?” Ruby frowned.

“Yes. I’ll be with you, Ruby, for the whole transformation.”

 

Archie watched as Ruby lay as though asleep, although he was sure that she was not. How could she be, when she must be wondering what was going to happen, whether she would actually transform or whether some vestige of the curse still remained that would keep her safe? 

He thought back to the earlier scene, when so many of Storybrooke’s residents had attempted to leave, to say goodbye to their memories of their previous lives, to escape Queen Regina. If anyone had a reason to attempt to leave, it would have been Ruby. Outside of Storybrooke, there was every chance that Ruby would never turn into a wolf, and if she didn’t remember her previous life, then she wouldn’t have to worry about it anyway. And she would no longer have to remember what had happened with Peter. Yet Ruby had chosen to remain in Storybrooke, to face her fate, while Archie had been a coward who had attempted to flee.

He had become Jiminy the man again, the man who was not strong enough to walk away from his parents and had felt he had to take the coward’s way out by approaching Rumpelstiltskin. If he had stood up to his parents earlier, if he had found the courage to walk away, how many lives would have been different? Geppetto would have been raised by his parents, and maybe when the news of Queen Regina’s curse had broken, he would not have been so desperate for Pinocchio to be one of the two to escape from the curse. Geppetto had questioned how much his parents had cared for him, since they had taken the so called elf tonic themselves without waiting for him, and even though Jiminy had tried to reason with him at the time, suggesting that maybe they’d wanted to protect him by taking it first to make sure nothing happened to him if it wasn’t safe, Geppetto had never been able to fully believe that and he knew that he would never know for sure. 

And maybe Geppetto had been right to worry that when the curse struck, Pinocchio would turn to wood again. Jiminy himself had regained his human form, so who knew? Archie did know that Henry Mills had told Geppetto that August Booth, of all people, had turned out to be Pinocchio and that he had turned to wood just before the curse broke, and that he had since disappeared. How was Geppetto feeling now, wondering if the sacrifice had been for nothing? (Geppetto hadn’t told Archie any of this, in fact he was about the only Storybrooke resident who didn’t seem to want to talk to him after the breaking of the curse. Even Regina had given in eventually. Or was that just the old Jiminy cowardice manifesting itself again in choosing not to go to Geppetto himself, to try and talk things through now that everything was out in the open?) And what if Charming ever knew, or Snow and Emma found out should they ever return? How would they all react to knowing that their separation need not have happened, that there was the possibility of two people escaping the curse?

Jiminy’s cowardice had affected so many people’s lives for the worse. But maybe here was a chance for him to be brave and to do something for the better. He’d stay with Ruby to the end, be there for her if she needed him, he’d be there when she woke. And he’d be able to stop anything happening to anyone else. 

Ruby was brave enough to stay in Storybrooke and face the curse that still trapped her. It was time for him to grow a pair and face up to his own fears. He’d start with staying with Ruby throughout this night, and then who knew? Maybe he’d finally be able to ask her the question that had been on his mind for a long time.

 

“What happened?” Ruby asked as she opened her eyes.

“Everything’s fine,” Archie said, reaching for her hand. “The chains were strong enough. Nothing happened to anyone. You were safe, and I stayed with you the entire time. Just as I’ll stay with you every time it happens, if you want me to, that is.”

“But why would you do this for me?”

“Because I know what it’s like to feel alone and haunted by something you’ve done. Geppetto, Snow, Emma, all those futures changed because of me. I just wanted to show you that you’re not alone any more.”

Ruby frowned. “Snow and Emma?”

Archie explained about how Geppetto had forced the Blue Fairy to lie about only one person being able to pass through the wardrobe.

“But you can’t blame yourself for that!” Ruby exclaimed. “Geppetto made the choice to send Pinocchio through. And the Blue Fairy had a choice too. She could have refused to lie for him, or she could have gone to Snow or Charming later and told them the truth.”

“And so could I, Ruby,” Jiminy pointed out. “But I didn’t. And I was reminded earlier of my own cowardice, when I saw how brave you were in choosing to stay here and face the possibility of transforming again, where I was ready to run. And I’m still being a coward. I haven’t been able to face speaking to Geppetto since the curse was broken.”

“Archie,” Ruby began, “you’re no coward. You were brave enough to sit out here with me all night, knowing there was a chance that these chains wouldn’t be strong enough. I could have broken free at any time and attacked you. You knew the risks, and you still stayed out here with me all night. Do you really think that’s what a coward would do?”

Archie shook his head. “I guess you’re right.”

“And if you can handle that, then I’m sure you can face Marco as well. He’s your best friend, both now and before. Just talk to him. It’ll be okay.”

Archie nodded. Ruby had made him realise that he had to take the bull by the horns and face his friend. And, who knew? Soon he may even be able to work up the courage to talk to Ruby about how he felt about her, too.


End file.
